Coconut Oil - Is it as good as all the claims?

[damepeanutbutter]

Praise for coconut oil is everywhere and it seems to be a miracle product. Do you use it? If so what benefits have you seen? Here are some that I've read about. Are they all possible?

Helps you burn fat
Kills bacteria, viruses and fungi
For Oral Health - teeth pulling
Kills hunger, making you eat less
Reduces seizures in epileptics
Improves blood cholesterol and lowers risk of heart disease
Moisturises skin
Protects skin from the sun
Protects hair against damage
Strong nails
Boosts brain function in Alzheimer’s patients
Reduces abdominal fat
Helps control eczema and psoriasis

Really?

Of course they're not all possible.

Are you planning on eating it or putting it on your skin?

I use it for -

Hair conditioning
Moisturising
Nails
Oil pulling
Putting on eczema and itchy scalp when needed
Removing eye makeup
Cooking

My mum uses it as sun protection as she's allergic to sun screens.

Trills - anything if it genuinely works. I've just started cooking with it, but just want to know if it is as much of a miracle as people claim.
Diazepam - do all these work for you?

I have very oily skin and find it brilliant as a cleanser, it's all I use now.

I used to use it occasionally on my hair as a conditioning treatment but haven't bothered since I started using henna again as the henna does a fine job of conditioning on its own.

I use it as my cleansing balm and my skin has been far less red and spotty. Took a good month to see the change and I'm using other products too, so I can't attribute it all to coconut oil. But, as a balm its as cheap as chips and it certainly hasn't made my skin worse. It comes in handy as a nail treatment too.

Feeling even more now, bought and paid for some but it went AWOL between tesco and home !

It's brilliant stuff ime.

I use it for oil pulling and on my hair.

Again use it for oil pulling and cook with it/ eat it.

What is oil pulling?

Lovely for hair and nails, and I use it at night as a skin cleanser. Lovely.

Also nice for scrambled eggs, and to stir fry greens spinach!

It's no miracle though, still has lots of saturated fat.

I don't like it, gives me spots.

Oil pulling is when you take a tablespoon of coconut oil and swill it about your teeth for 15/20 minutes. Spit in bin ( so you don't block your plug) and floss, brush teeth as normal. It's disgusting though after persevering for a fortnight it's getting easier. Allegedly wonderful for teeth and oral health. Too early to tell. I did rub it on my lips after pulling instead of bedtime carmex but I have a big lip spot without a head. I wouldn't dare use it on my face after that.

I use it as a cleaner and moisturiser. I have very sensitive skin and lots of products give me a nasty reaction but this one never does. It's also cheap and smells delicious. It doesn't suit everyone but at around £6 for a big pot, I say it's worth a punt. If you don't like it, you can always cook with it.

I've found it really effective on eczema patches that flare up randomly. Also quite good on dd's cradle cap.

There was a tv program that tested out claims for various things and they assessed oil pulling against doing the same thing but just with water (and against doing nothing at all) and found the water was just as effective at reducing the plaque/bacteria in your mouth. It's the pulling 'action' which works, not the coconut oil. Might make it less disgusting for you!
Anyway, I've had a pot I bought ages ago and just started using it on my face but it went very itchy so I've gone back to my normal oil. Haven't tried anything else with it yet

It's known to cause spots for a lot of acne prone people.

Using it as sunscreen is just terrifying.

It is not a sunscreen.

As empress says, oil pulling is not a scientific thing at all. There's no good reason for doing this in the age of modern dental care. This article explains it nicely.

www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/oil-pulling-your-leg/

Dd home bleached her hair and wrecked it -it was knotting up on itself, snapping, felt terrible!

Coconut oil, rubbed into dry hair, wrapped in clingflilm then left on is like some kind of miracle!

I use it every other week as a hair treatment, but tried it on my face as I have v dry skin & it gave me big acne-like spots so beware!

You don't want to put it on your face as it clogs your pores up. Good for the rest of your body though.

I put it on DD's cradle cap when she was little and it STANK. I kept thinking she's thrown up or something. Plus this was at the point when you're meant to jut wash them in water and being Pfb I didn't dare use soap. Lovely in cooking though - especially with mushrooms!

Christ, the typos. Apologies.

Am definitely going to try this on my hair - a mass of dried straw!